Never Let Go
by Tenshiii77
Summary: [2012 Universe] April knew she could handle anything, as long as her mutant family was by her side. But how will she react when she's suddenly plunged into the world of being a Teenage girl? Makeup, dances, and boys - oh my! Friendships are tested and hearts are broken in this short story. Apritello! With a dash of Capril. (Please don't bash either one! We all like what we like.:3)


April rolled her eyes as she stared at herself in the full-length mirror of her bedroom. She reached up to the back of her head, pulling her auburn locks free of the elastic hair band, watching as it all fell to her shoulders. She reached up once again, letting a small smile form on her delicate features as her right hand ran through her silky tresses. She wondered why she never wore it down; it made her look so much older.

She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. 01:17. She sighed; a nervous feeling erupted in the pit of her stomach. When had it gotten so late? She should have been in bed ages ago; she would have to be up in a few hours to start getting ready for school.

School. Maybe she could fake being sick tomorrow? No, she had her education to worry about. After all, she didn't want to disappoint her father. She took a deep breath, holding it for a moment before she exhaled slowly as she took a seat on her bed. She began absent-mindedly picking the polish she had tried out earlier that evening off of her left index finger.

After a few minutes of staring at the adjacent wall in thought, she let her gaze fall to her hands on her lap. She rolled her eyes again, knowing that she wouldn't have kept it on her fingers for long anyway. She let her right index finger lightly sweep over her left, and another smile began to form as she admired the color. Purple.

She was awoken from her reverie when a knock came at her window. Her smile widened as she jumped up from her bed, making her way across the room. There's only one soul in the whole city that would come visit her at such a late hour. She quietly opened the window, so as to not disturb her slumbering Aunt.

"Hey Red," Casey waved, "whatcha doin'?"

Disappointment invaded her features, "Oh, Casey… it's just you."

"You were expecting someone else?" he cocked an eyebrow suggestively.

She just shook her head, taking a few steps back, allowing him entrance. Casey stepped inside, but stayed close to the window.

"What are you doing out so late?" April asked, after a moment's silence, "shouldn't you be in bed?"

He smirked, "shouldn't _you_?"

She crossed her arms, her patience clearly dwindling as the seconds passed by.

"I could not sleep, so I went for a leisurely stroll, as I often do." Casey mocked in a way a proper gentleman would speak. When he elicited no response from the redhead he shrugged, "I was passing by your apartment and seen your bedroom light on. Figured I'd see why you were still up."

April's head tilted to the side, "Checking up on me, were you?"

"You can never be too careful in this _dangerous_ city," he winked, playfully, "Aliens and robot ninjas? You'll need to hire your own personal bodyguard, and I think I would be perfect for the job."

She rolled her eyes, sitting on her bed, "go home, Casey. I have to get _some_ sleep before school tomorrow."

"Come on, Red," he took a few steps towards her, "I know my resume would surely impress you."

April opened her mouth to retort when he closed the distance between them, wrapping his hand around her wrist, yanking her up to her feet and rendering her speechless.

"K, I'm not very good at this kind of stuff, but…" Casey avoided looking her in the eye the whole time, focusing his attention on a discarded hair band on the floor, "I want you to go to the school dance Friday night…with me."

April stared at him, waiting for him to look at her, but he never did.

"Look, I got in some trouble with the Principal last week," he suddenly became very interested in his shoes, "our trig teacher caught me behind the school spray-painting my signature art on the wall, and—"

"Casey," April warned.

"Yeah, so anyway, I got stuck helping out with that lame school dance as punishment," he lifted his eyes to look at her, "but I thought that maybe, y'know, it would make it a little _less_ lame if...you were there."

"Well, I wasn't planning on going, but," April tried to cover her blush up with a playful smirk, "is the infamous Casey Jones asking me out on a _date_?"

"Can we not call it that, O'Neil?" He took a step back, "maybe just call it…two awesome people making a lame party cool with our supreme coolness."

April tried to supress a giggle, but did not succeed, "I guess when you put it _that_ way, I have no choice."

They stared at each other for what April felt was like the longest moment ever before she cleared her throat.

"Yep, and that's my cue to leave," he darted to the window, hopping outside, "See ya tomorrow, Red!"

She walked to the window, watching him climb down the fire escape. She was about the close the window when he yelled out to her.

"Leave your hair down on Friday, O'Neil!" he jumped on his bike, not bothering to look up at her, but knowing she was still there, "I like what I see!"

She chuckled to herself as he sped off, locking the window and shaking her head. She suddenly didn't feel nervous anymore, feeling quite relieved as she shut the light off and pulled back her blanket. She crawled into her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

She had not wanted to go to school tomorrow, it being the day before the dance. She knew all the girls would be flitting around, all made up and perfect, talking about the dance; who they were going with, what they would wear, and April would just be there, all plain, invisible, and dateless.

Her appearance had never bothered her before, but she guessed that she was at that age now where those things seemed to matter more. She was picked on a little by some of the popular girls; blonde curls, long legs, and curves in all the right places. April's most favorite juvenile word they liked to throw her way was dork. She often wished some days that she could whip out her tessen and show them just how _dorky_ she was. However, she knew that wasn't how a proper Kunoichi should act, and knew her Sensei would not approve.

She felt a warm feeling spread through her as she thought of her adoptive family. Her Sensei and her four brothers would always be there to look out for her; she didn't need a personal bodyguard as Casey had suggested, whether or not he was serious about that she wasn't sure.

'_Yes, my brothers,_' she thought, lazily, _'Leo…Raph…Mikey…and…_'

Donatello floated into her mind. Wait, Donnie? Did she really think of Donnie as her brother? The second youngest mutant ninja was her best friend, that was for sure, but something felt wrong when she used _Donnie_ and_ brother_ in the same train of thought. Whenever she thought of Casey and her feelings towards him, she almost instantly thought of the purple clad turtle.

She knew it was only natural of a young girl to think of boys at her age. But a year ago, if she had been asked to describe that special someone in her life, she would never have thought he would have a shell and live in a sewer. Although, she never pictured herself possibly falling for a hockey playing bad-boy type either.

Why was being a teenage girl so difficult?

She huffed a sigh of frustration as she turned to lay on her side, facing the wall. She hated nights when she had things on her mind; it made it almost impossible for her to fall asleep.

"Okay, mind. Listen up," April shut her eyes tight, "I have school in the morning, no more thoughts of purple-masked turtles, or high school delinquents, okay?"

She lay in comfortable silence for a minute before her eyes flicked open again, a groan escaping her lips, _'…now I've gotta go buy myself a dress,_' she rolled onto her stomach, burying her head under her pillow.

* * *

The night air was warm as he watched the light in his Princesses room go off. He had wanted to throw a ninja star at a tire on the boy's bike, causing him to go flying into a garbage can. He laughed at the thought, but restrained himself. What had that punk been doing in her bedroom at this time of night? What was going on this Friday night that he'd want her to wear her hair down for? Could it be a date? _What_ had _happened_ in there?!

"Yo, loverboy!" the red clad turtle yelled from two buildings over, "are ya gonna stalk April all night, or are ya gonna help us patrol?"

Donnie was about to make a probably not-so-clever remark when he was leap-frogged by his younger brother.

"C'mon, bro!" Mikey laughed, "We've got Kraang-butt to kick!"

"Yeah, I was just checking on Apr—" Donnie's eye started to twitch when Mikey interrupted him with smooching noises.

"Ugh, Mikey!" Donnie ran after him with his staff at the ready.

He decided that he would casually bring up tonight's Casey-related events with the red-haired beauty after she got out of school.

* * *

Okaaaaay, so this is my first TMNT fic. Please don't be too harsh on me; I haven't really written anything in a long while! :) Please let me know what you think. I know that nothing much really happened, but this is basically just a little introduction chapter. Chapter two will be more eventful for you, I hope. ^_^ Thanks for reading, and please read & review!

Much love,

~Tenshi


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